(NEW YORK) -- (4) Louisville (29-5, 14-4 Big East) defeated (19) Syracuse (26-9, 11-7 Big East), 78-61 at Madison Square Garden Saturday night to win the Big East tournament.

The Cardinals trailed 45-29 with 15:50 to play in the game when they went on a 27-3 run to put them in front, 56-48 with 8:51 left.

“In order to get that type of defensive pressure, where you’re conditioning, where all that hustle is a factor, you have to take good shots, and we took good shots in the second half,” Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said.

Freshman guard Montrezl Harrell led Louisville with a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds while teammate, senior guard Peyton Siva added 11 points and eight assists.

Syracuse was led by junior forward C.J. Fair, who scored 21 points and pulled down seven rebounds.

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